A candidate for Lee County Sheriff filed an ethics complaint against Sheriff Carmine Marceno Tuesday, claiming Marceno knowingly failed to disclose to the state a cash purchase of more than a half-million dollars of a Sarasota condo.
While Marceno did appear to leave the purchase off his 2024 state financial disclosure, per reporting guidelines, Marceno was not required to include the condo on said statement as he purchased it after 2023.
Marceno dated his net worth to Dec. 31, 2023, in accordance with the instructions laid out for the state’s financial disclosure form. He placed his real property’s net worth at $900,000 –– five months prior to his purchase of the Sarasota condo.
At the time, Marceno reported approximately $317,000 in cash in two bank accounts .
Write-in candidate Mike Hollow said he didn’t notice that date Marceno pegged his net worth to before he filed his complaint with the Florida ethics commission.
Still, Hollow, a 17-year law enforcement veteran and former Internal Affairs commander with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, called the omission concerning, noting that Marceno did not declare enough in cash in his 2024 financial disclosure form to close on a $600,000 condo a mere five months later.